Ukrainian and American Artists’ Collaboration: “SMW Kyiv 2021” Visual Manifesto

by Vladyslava Zhabrovets
Monday, October 11, 2021
3 MIN
Ukrainian and American Artists’ Collaboration: “SMW Kyiv 2021” Visual Manifesto

A digital avatar was jointly created by Ukrainian and American digital artists for this year’s international online conference “Social Media Week Kyiv 2021” taking place in November 2021

According to Liga.net reports, the organisers of SMW Kyiv 2021, the international content platform Depositphotos and the graphic platform Crello, have developed a visual manifest for the event in collaboration with the American digital artist Huntrezz Janos (e-curatorial agency Cultural Policy). The key element of the artwork is the avatar an anthropomorphic creature that transcends all boundaries.

The world has changed: a global digital transformation has taken place. Each of us lives in two realities physical and digital and has his own avatar. Any boundaries that exist in the physical world can be effortlessly overcome in the digital. On the other hand, social networks have become a place where everyone creates and broadcasts to the world a certain digital image, a desired projection. Creative thinking helps to reevaluate the world and adapt to new realities this concept became the basis for art work.

"Digital art is the "golden section" of our time, the balance of technology and creative thinking, which is able to take an invest.com/investing-in-ukraine/business-opportunities/" rel="dofollow">idea to a new level. During the work on the conference program, we thought a lot about the importance of social networks in our life, about how communication and cultural codes changed. We wanted to express these changes visually and show that the transformation has been already made. Huntrezz has managed to translate this concept into its artwork. This is the first collaboration of Depositphotos with a digital artist of this kind, but we are confident that such collaborations will become an integral part of the future creative campaigns  — both ours and of many other brands,” Tati Tymoshenko, Creative Director of Depositphotos said.

The digital avatar will come to life in an AR filter and clothes released in collaboration with FFFACE.ME and FINCH specifically during the event.

"The work on the project lasted about two months. With each iteration, the avatar developed and transformed, acquiring the desired features. It personifies freedom and going beyond the digital world. My idea is that a person or society outside the digital world is not static: they are constantly growing and breaking boundaries, thereby defining a new dimension. I tried to convey this message through my work, animation. I am very pleased with the result of this collaboration,” Huntrezz Janos, the digital artist of Cultural Policy commented.

The music for the visual work was developed by Mubert using AI and the Depositphotos audio library. The editors chose a genre dataset that fits the semantic concept of the manifesto. After that, several variants of the track were generated. One of them formed the basis for the arrangement and at the stage of sound design was mixed with sounds from the Depositphotos library.

"Our mission is acutely consonant with the topic of the conference. We strive to minimise the barriers that prevent people from being creative. Creative thinking allows people to reevaluate the world, people have new ideas and ways to implement them. And we create the right tools for this,"  Pavel Zhordan, sound engineer and music director of Mubert said.

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